Walls: Swallow-tailed kites amazing in flight

Published 1:12 pm, Tuesday, May 6, 2014

While doing outside chores one day last week, I took a moment to look up as I had seen the shadows of birds racing across the back lawn. Looking up, it was an amazing sight.

I first noticed a few turkey and black vultures soaring high overhead. Not an uncommon sight, but I always am amazed how graceful vultures soar, seemingly effortlessly on thermal air currents. Beautiful.

Closer inspection revealed some real avian treasures mixed in below the vultures. There were dozens of swallows erratically flying low over the field. They were feeding on airborne insects on this beautiful sunny spring morning.

Scanning the sky between the high-flying vultures and low-flying swallows were some of nature’s most beautiful and graceful avian wonders. I noticed several large white and black birds with deeply-forked tails riding air currents just above the swallows. Just above these birds were about 25 other similarly shaped birds. These were a bit smaller and lacked the deeply-forked tails of their larger cousins. These were majestic swallow-tailed and Mississippi kites.

This was one of the wonderful memorable moments that nature provides us either by purpose or circumstance. This experience was purely by circumstance. I had no idea that I would see this avian spectacle while doing outside chores.

Gazing wide-eyed above, I noticed one of the swallow-tailed kites had a small snake in its talons. It consumed the hapless little reptile in flight.

I believe the smaller swallows were feeding on small flying insects just above the field. In addition to an occasional snake or lizard, the larger kites were feeding on larger flying insects such as dragonflies.

The swallow-tailed kites were absolutely amazing in flight. They would gracefully bank sideways by adjusting their aerial path. Their deeply-forked tails banked and swayed from side to side as these beautiful raptors soared above. The contrast of their black-and-white feathers added to the visual beauty of the experience. It was an amazing sight.

I don’t know if this amazing spectacle will occur again soon. All I know is that I will be waiting with binoculars over the next few days for a repeat performance. Or maybe I should just leave the binoculars inside and do some more outside chores.